The editorial "we" often disagrees with Stanley Fish, but he often is provocative or interesting. This time we pretty much agree with his thesis, although perhaps not with his full analysis of the actions of SUNY Albany's president. It might be about time to declare the humanities officially endangered. Addressing what, if anything can be done, he writes:

The only thing that might fly — and I’m hardly optimistic — is politics, by which I mean the political efforts of senior academic administrators to explain and defend the core enterprise to those constituencies — legislatures, boards of trustees, alumni, parents and others — that have either let bad educational things happen or have actively connived in them.

And when I say “explain,” I should add aggressively explain — taking the bull by the horns, rejecting the demand (always a loser) to economically justify the liberal arts, refusing to allow myths (about lazy, pampered faculty who work two hours a week and undermine religion and the American way) to go unchallenged, and if necessary flagging the pretensions and hypocrisy of men and women who want to exercise control over higher education in the absence of any real knowledge of the matters on which they so confidently pronounce.

On the basis of his performance in this instance, President Philip (who is without a doctoral degree and who has little if any experience teaching or researching) is not that kind of administrator, although he does exhibit some skills. With little notice, he called a town hall meeting for Friday afternoon, Oct. 1, when he could be sure that almost no academic personnel would be hanging around. In an e-mail sent the same day, he noted the “unfortunate timing,” but pleaded the “limited availability of appropriate large venue options.” In effect, I can’t call a meeting on a convenient day because we don’t have a room large enough to get you all in, so I’ll commandeer a large room on a day when I know that very few of you will show up. Brilliant!

 

Kenneth W. Dobbins is president of Southeast Missouri State University focuses on strategic analysis of academic programs in this brief set of suggestions:

Most of us are faced with, or will be facing, the daunting task of balancing our budgets with less funding from state government. There are several ways to increase revenue and reduce costs, which seem to be easier than reducing or eliminating academic programs.

Examples of these “easier” approaches include: increasing capacity with larger classes; eliminating low enrollment classes; increasing teaching loads; redesigning courses; and adding more temporary or adjunct faculty instead of tenure track. However, the advice in the old saying, “do more or the same with less,” cannot be followed anymore.

With the easier approaches already taken, many of us must critically examine academic programs and ask what are we doing, how are we doing it, and should we be doing it at all. How you do this magic act depends on your campus culture and shared governance expectations, but below are several ideas for your consideration.

Where can you find the very latest about academic programming and student learning at the United States' military academies? In the latest issue of Liberal Education, from the Association of American Colleges and Universities:

I wonder whether our military leaders will be the ones to help achieve a breakthrough public agreement that ensuring our nation’s future requires liberal education—and, therefore, that liberal education ought to be the curriculum of choice for everyone.

West Point: "Today’s military operates in contexts where uncertainty and ambiguity are commonplace. Human security challenges, when coupled with U.S. interests, demand an officer corps capable of responding promptly and effectively to a diverse set of issues in environments that require innovation, flexibility, and adaptability. The army needs officers who have benefitted from a liberal education."

Air Force Academy: "Although the academy’s commitment to liberal education has remained the same since the institution’s founding just over fifty years ago, the approach taken to fulfill that commitment has changed markedly. Over time, campus conversations have begun to focus much more on the achievement of agreed-upon outcomes for cadet learning and development."

Naval Academy: "The United States Naval Academy provides a top liberal arts education to all midshipmen, and one of the central elements of that liberal education is an understanding of global and cross-cultural dynamics."

Dickeson insists that this type of honest communication and streamlined process takes a strong alliance of leadership and buy-in from the campus community. “As I’ve indicated, the CAO, CBO, and CEO have to be aligned for this process to work—each is a principal stakeholder in both the process and the outcome. … By reallocating resources from weaker to stronger programs, the CAO can see the possibilities for strengthening the overall institution, a concept that should motivate us all.”

Read about three institutions that have undertaken academic program review. These case studies detail how one campus initiated ongoing academic review and has reaped the collaborative benefits for a decade, how another handled inevitable personnel issues, and how a third found that following a community’s vision can serve as a navigation tool through state budget shortfalls.

Robert C. Dickeson has revised and updated his well-respected book, Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services: Reallocating Resources to Achieve Strategic Balance. If you click here or on the image at left and purchase the book from Amazon, SCUP will receive a small percentage of the purchase price. Given the adjustments and realignments happening on campuses all around the world in the current economic recession, this is a timely update!

The "blurb" we wrote for this Planning for Higher Education article says "Our relationship with the traditions and purpose of a humanistic education, it appears, are at odds with the career environment most students inhabit after graduation." The authors, Gary D. Beckman and Richard A. Chewitz, provide case studies of innovative entrepreneurship initiatives at the University of Texas, Austin, as well as background and discussion of the concept of "entrepreneurship education" in academic programming. "From our perspective, entrepreneurship—broadly conceived—is an intrinsic human right to change the status quo, and intellectual entrepreneurship is a philosophy and pedagogy to exercise this act by educating citizen-scholars—agents of change who own, are accountable for, and put their knowledge to work for the betterment of themselves and society. As we collaborate in the development of campuswide efforts to bring entrepreneurial thinking to the arts and sciences, we have the opportunity to envision entrepreneurship education in an authentic manner that is sustainable across campus, relevant to communities, and, most importantly, empowering to stakeholders."

Now SCUPers can connect on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

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Even in the face of unprecedented financial challenge, are the traditions, political forces, mission arguments and ideological posturing within the academy trumping the ability to restructure the academic portfolio, and the decision making and resource allocation structures that currently exist? Or, alternatively, is the eye of the storm of such magnitude that this level of macro change will be deferred until stimulus funding evaporates and there is a public moratorium on tuition and fee increases?

Perhaps for some regions, major restructuring will occur only when the reality of large declines in the high school pipeline make their way into annual operating budgets, and community colleges begin cannibalizing enrollments from neighboring four-year institutions.

Scott Jaschik summarizes the choices campus leaders at Valencia Community College are having to make, with insights as to the varying constituencies and stakeholders:

How did it come to this? Last year, the college had to cut $8 million out of its $100 million budget due to state cuts, all while enrollment has been increasing steadily (total is now about 22,000). Those cuts were across the board, but Rodriguez said the new approach will be used for another $3.6 million that must be cut in the next few months. Rumors from Sacramento suggest that additional cuts are in the offing, and Rodriguez said he sees no sign of the kinds of political or economic changes in the state that might encourage him to wait for a recovery.

"I think it's going to get worse," he said.

Jack Stripling's done a nice job in Inside Higher Ed of covering many of the issues people on campus are grappling with regarding program prioritizing, "weeding," and so forth:

As colleges grapple with a veritable menu of Sophie’s choices, essential questions are being raised: What kind of institution are we? What do we truly value, and what are mere luxuries accumulated in headier days? And, in at least one instance of interstate sniping in the South, do we really want to be like Arkansas?

As might be expected, there’s no single answer to these difficult questions. Perhaps more importantly, there’s no agreed-upon strategy for finding the answers. Recent program reviews at Radford University and across the state of Louisiana, for instance, have sparked controversy largely over the process and metrics used for evaluation. Those concerns are heightened in the current economic climate, where pressure to get lean fast is mounting.

Well, that comment was actually not in this article, it was in the . . . comments to the article. A business coalition, known as the Service Research & Innovation Initiative is campaigning to get Customer Service taught as a science. The comments are fun: "We’ve just decided to rename our English Department the Department of Word Science. The donations are already pouring in!"